Coffee
by LadyLush
Summary: Rose Weasley has a busy life and sometimes a coffee break is just what's needed. Good coffee is her haven away from stress and work but after running into an old school friend on her coffee break she realises that a cup of coffee can lead to so much more.


**Coffee**

Rose Weasley smiled as she savoured a mouthful of her creamy coffee. After a hectic couple of hours at work she had decided enough was enough and she officially needed a coffee break. A coffee break with proper coffee (as in not the cheap liquid crap that was available at work) and thus this led her to a muggle coffee shop only a short five minutes away.

It was quiet with only three other tables occupied but then she supposed it wasn't lunch time yet and so most people were making do with liquid crap at the moment. She itched to get some work out of her briefcase, but with muggles around it would look quite strange to see someone in the modern era using a quill and writing on parchment. Although she was relieved to leave the stress behind Rose was used to doing something. She hated to just sit. This was why her life was filled with books, work and musty parchment.

"Weasley?"

The sound of her name snapped Rose out of her thoughts slowly. After being part of such a big family, when someone shouted Weasley it rarely meant that it was actually you. Even when on her own it took a moment to realise it must be her. Considering she was the only Weasley in the cafe, especially a muggle cafe, she really should have caught on quicker.

"Rose Weasley?"

"Yes," she replied hastily, turning her head to see the unknown person. Her blue eyes widened in surprise and her mouth opened for a moment before her manners returned and she quickly shut it and narrowed her eyes. She felt her ears tinge red as the smirk on his face let her realise he had noticed.

"Scorpius Malfoy."

Rose couldn't help but rake her eyes over him. He had changed; matured. Of course that was to be expected but she never thought she would find him attractive. His pale blonde hair had darkened over the years, unlike his father's, but was still light blonde and he was wearing it short and styled fashionably. His grey eyes were the same and set upon the same high cheek bones with a long nose and kissable lips. His strong jaw was covered in light stubble that he had never had at school but what Rose decided suited him most definitely. Beneath his black shirt (with the top few buttons undone and the sleeves rolled up to his forearms, she noticed deliciously) and grey trousers, she immediately tried to imagined what was underneath. Broad shoulders, a flat stomach, and strong looking thighs; a strange feeling came over her when she realised that this was Malfoy she was thinking about.

His coat was draped over his forearm and he was stood holding his hand out for her to shake. She shook it with a small smile on her face because this was weird. Shaking hands was for complete strangers and he wasn't one. She knew him- well she knew the teenage him. Rose had changed since her Hogwarts' years and so must he.

"It's a surprise to see you in here," commented Rose, tucking a loose strand of her red hair behind her ear. "It's a surprise to see you at all."

"Well it has been seven years," said Scorpius with a charming smile.

Rose blinked. Seven years. Where had the time gone? "That's a long time," swallowed Rose dryly.

Scorpius was about to reply but the waitress interrupted them, holding a white saucer with a white mug on top. "Excuse me, Sir, you're coffee is ready."

Rose saw how the waitress (according to the plastic name tag named Stacey) smiled at Scorpius with such vigour. Rose supposed the woman was pretty enough to warrant a date with him- straight long brown hair with big brown doe eyes, not to mention the rather large assets she possessed on her chest- but Rose knew Scorpius had a sharp mind and would need someone to keep him interested both aesthetically and intellectually. To his credit, Scorpius smiled back with a muttered, "Thanks." Even after all this time Rose recognised his fake smile. After all, she put up with enough of them when he was on his best behaviour when Albus spent time with the pair of them at the same time.

"Would you like it on this table," Stacey asked, gesturing to the table at which Rose was sat.

He looked at her, his piercing grey eyes seeking permission. Rose nodded in response.

"Yes, please," replied Scorpius, sitting himself down in the seat opposite as the waitress placed his coffee on the table top.

"Can I get you anything else?"

"Could I have a blueberry muffin, please," requested Scorpius cordially, before turning to face her. "Rose, muffin?"

"Pardon?"

"A muffin? Would you like a muffin?" asked Scorpius with a faint smirk on his face.

"Oh yes, a muffin," said Rose bewildered slightly. "Yes, please. Chocolate."

"See that wasn't so hard, was it?" teased Scorpius, as the waitress walked away (although not before looking at Rose as though she was stupid).

"Oh shut up," said Rose with a reluctant smile on her face. "You caught me off guard that's all."

"You mean because I was being nice?" asked Scorpius, the smile slipping off of his face.

"No," said Rose quickly. "I've seen you being nice countless times. You were just never nice to me."

"That's because when I was a teenager I was a stupid git," admitted Scorpius. "Especially to you."

"You were never cruel to me," commented Rose frankly. "You didn't do anything either way. It was like I didn't exist. Well, unless we were arguing."

"I'm really sorry for that, Rose," apologised Scorpius sincerely. Rose scrutinised him for a moment. His features were softened and his grey eyes that were usually so piercing, were gazing at her gently. He was genuinely sorry for his actions during Hogwarts.

"You really don't need to apologise," said Rose with a smile. "But it is nice gesture that you have. I'm sorry too, for basically being a bitch."

"You weren't a bitch," laughed Scorpius. "You just had a tongue made of acid. You gave as well as you got. You had a temper and you used it often; but only when I'd pissed you off.

"We were stupid kids, weren't we?"

"Incredibly so," replied Scorpius, taking a sip of his coffee. The waitress came back with the two muffins and thankfully for Rose she did so without interference. She didn't know how to describe what was going on, but she just knew she wanted to talk to Scorpius all by herself. "In fact, I've been meaning to clear the air between us for a long time. I even asked Albus once, where you lived. However it turned out you were in Germany at the time, and then I realised that most of your family barely saw you, I never had a chance. You were always in different countries. Why?"

"It was for my job."

"Your job?" enquired Scorpius, interestedly. "What do you do?"

"I work for the Department of International Cooperation," replied Rose, a wide grin spreading across her face. Her work was a big part of her life and she was fiercely proud of what she did. "Usually, it was trading standards and regulations that I dealt with. I spent most of my time abroad, conversing with international ministers and persuading them to trade with us or occasionally to help British wizards and witches who might have found themselves in trouble abroad. It was a fascinating job; I met a variety of different people and I had to learn so many languages. I'm now fluent in French, German, Italian, Spanish and Chinese. I was supposed to be going to Russia for a stay of six months so I'd just started learning Russian."

"Wow, you really love your job," smiled Scorpius. "I always knew you'd go on to do something important. It's a great department to get far in life. Hey, what do you mean by supposed?"

"I just got promoted to the Deputy Head," replied Rose. "And so my replacement will be going in my stead."

"Congratulations."

"Thanks, I guess."

"You don't sound too happy about your promotion," observed Scorpius.

Rose scrunched up her eyebrows for a moment. "No, I'm thrilled that I was promoted, and everybody is for me. After all, it's a great opportunity, but..."

"But you loved what you used to do more," concluded Scorpius.

"Exactly," exclaimed Rose. "Everybody is so happy for me and none of them have realised this. Except you. Why is that?"

"Maybe it's because I'm practically a stranger and so my intuition isn't clouded. Your parents, and other loved ones, have probably wanted you to be promoted for ages, especially because with you promoted it means you have to stay in the country. People love you, they want you around."

"You really understand things," smiled Rose. "Thank you."

"It's no problem. There must be some things you like about your new job. A big office? The chance to boss people around? Secret affairs with your secretary? There must be something," said Scorpius, wriggling his eyebrows suggestively.

"My secretary is a very efficient sixty year old woman," laughed Rose. "I suppose it is good to be in charge, and the office is pretty big. It's mainly me just seeing over everybody else doing the work, I organise things for them. Although at the moment, I'm involved with a very important assignment."

"Am I allowed to know?"

"Can you keep a secret?" asked Rose mischievously.

Scorpius leaned in towards her with a playful smirk on his face. "Always for a pretty face."

She blushed a little but with a small smile none the less. "Well I'm currently working with the Department of Magical Games and Sports, and together we're organising the next Quidditch World Cup which is to be held in England this year. It's going to be announced next week, so I'd appreciate it if you kept it to yourself until then. Its top secret - I haven't even told anyone in my family."

"Why have you told me?"

"I don't know," replied Rose. "I suppose it's because it's good to share a part of my life finally. Most of my family aren't all too interested. I think it's because my Uncle Percy used to work in this department and he's a boring old sod so they assume what I do is boring too. Even with all the travel I did, they thought I was just talking about cauldron thickness in different languages. Compared to Aurors, Quidditch players and owning joke shops it is a little boring."

"It doesn't sound boring to me."

"Please, pardon my manners, Scorpius, I haven't asked you what you do for a living yet."

"I'm an Unspeakable."

"Impressive," grinned Rose. "I guess you can't talk much about your job then."

"Actually, since the fall of Voldemort, it's become a bit more lax," explained Scorpius. "I think it's partly due to what happened in the Department of Mysteries with your parents and family, and the death of Sirius Black. People want to know what goes on so that nothing like that ever happens again. Of course, most things are kept secret, and usually we only inform the Wizarding World of our findings when the experiments are completed."

"Are you doing anything interesting at the moment?"

"Well, can you keep a secret?" asked Scorpius, with a mocking smirk. Rose leaned forward like he had done previously. She was enjoying this time with Scorpius, and she couldn't help but flirt a little.

"Always for a pretty face," she murmured, her blue eyes staring him down with a heated gaze. She was fully satisfied when one side of his mouth curled up deliciously.

"We're researching souls," replied Scorpius.

"We already know people have souls," said Rose bemused.

"Of course we do," said Scorpius. "But nobody knows that much about them despite the fact that they're our very essence. We're researching things like whether soul mates exist and soul extracting."

"You're extracting people's souls!?!"

"No, that would be an awful thing to do," answered Scorpius hastily. "It's mainly seeing if a person's soul leaves the body when a person's unconscious and things like that. I promise we're not doing anything barbaric."

"That's good to know," replied Rose. "So have you found soul mates?"

"The evidence is inconclusive at the moment as the research is early days," said Scorpius, but then he smiled. "But I would like to think that they do."

"Why? Do you think you've found yours?"

"I'm single, actually," frowned Scorpius. "What about you?"

"It's hard to maintain a relationship when you're moving from country to country."

"You're not doing that anymore."

"I'm not, am I," smiled Rose softly. He smiled back at her, and she could have honestly lost herself in it. "I should really be getting back to work soon, I only meant to take a quick coffee break, I sort of wish I didn't have to though. This may sound like it's coming from nowhere, considering our history and what not and I mean it's okay if you don't want to, but I've had a really nice running into you, so do you think you'd like to have coffee with me some time?"

"I thought we were having coffee now," said Scorpius, with a lone blonde eyebrow arched.

"Oh right," stammered Rose awkwardly, her cheeks flushing red. "I didn't mean just a coffee like now, I meant go out for a coffee like, you know, like a-"

"But I would love to take you out for dinner some time," divulged Scorpius, reaching out across the table top to grasp her hand in his.

"Really?" asked Rose, in amazement, smiling shyly.

"Yes, so you can stop flustering," grinned Scorpius. "I know we've only just run into each other again and I used to be a git to you, but I'm glad that I did run into you again, because I think that I quite like you."

Rose felt a surge of warmth spread through her as her small smile crept up into a wide grin. "I think I quite like you too."

Sometimes a coffee break is more than just a coffee break.


End file.
